Waves’ Recruiting Loses Centerpiece

The hole in the middle of Pepperdine’s basketball team got a little bigger this week.

Hoping to sign a center, Coach Lorenzo Romar received the disappointing news that Matt Pinkney, a 6-foot-10 sophomore from Salt Lake Community College in Utah, had committed to UC Santa Barbara.

Since Pinkney is the only center Pepperdine was recruiting, Romar said there’s a strong possibility that 6-8 Bryan Hill, the Waves’ starting power forward last season, will move to the post. The Waves are without a true center because of the graduation of 7-foot Gavin Van Der Putten, and they currently have only two players 6-6 or taller.

“There are no centers out there,” said Romar, who took over as Wave coach last month after four years as a UCLA assistant. “We’re not looking at anybody 6-10 or taller.”

Romar, though, isn’t ready to push the panic button just yet. As expected, Pepperdine signed 6-6 1/2 forward Kelvin Gibbs of Bellflower High on Wednesday, the first day of the national signing period, and has a shot at several other forwards, Romar said.

“When all is said and done, I think we’ll get someone,” Romar said. “Ideally, you’d like to have a 7-footer. But if you don’t get one, the world doesn’t come to an end.

“Bryan Hill is one of the best post players in the [West Coast Conference]. He’s already shown that. But it would help to get another big guy.”

Topping the Waves’ recruiting list are three forwards--6-8 Pero Vasiljevic, an Australian exchange student at Simi Valley High; 6-7 Jarvis Turner of South Bakersfield High, and 6-7 Mark McDowell, a freshman at Mesa Community College in Arizona. Vasiljevic, The Times’ Ventura County player of the year, has narrowed his choices to Pepperdine, Gonzaga, UCLA and Kansas State, coached by former Pepperdine Coach Tom Asbury.

“We got in so late on these guys, the middle of March, that it’s an uphill battle,” Romar said.

Rumors that other Pacific 10 Conference players planned to follow California sophomore guard Jelani Gardner in transferring to Pepperdine have remained just that--rumors--despite persistent reports that have UCLA sophomore center omm’A Givens leaving Westwood for Malibu.

Romar would not comment on the reports involving potential transfers.

He preferred to tout the potential of Gibbs, a versatile forward who averaged 22 points and 14 rebounds for Bellflower last season and whose long reach is equal to that of someone 7 feet 2.

“Kelvin is going to be a big-time player,” Romar said. “I think we got a steal.”